KC Chiefs left out of NFL’s top wide receiver rankings
By Matt Conner
Pro Football Focus made their list of the league’s top 32 wideouts, and the Kansas City Chiefs aren’t represented by anyone for the first time in years.
For the last several years, the Kansas City Chiefs have become used to employing some of the best (or the absolute best) at a number of positions, so when it came time for anyone to put together any sort of offensive rankings, you could count on Chiefs Kingdom being well-represented. That’s not necessarily the case anymore.
Pro Football Focus recently put out their annual list of the top wide receivers in the game, and this year, the Chiefs arne’t represented at all.
The ’22 offseason has been an interesting passing of the torch in Kansas City with the trade of Tyreek Hill to the Miami Dolphins back in March in exchange for five future draft selections. Just like that, the Chiefs were Cheetah-less, an offense weapon unlike any otehr in the game who was only a single half-season or so away from owning every wide receiver record in Chiefs franchise history.
The Hill trade provided a bit of a curveball for analysts who realize that the Chiefs are guaranteed to, once again, have a historic offense given the presence of Patrick Mahomes at quarterback, Andy Reid on the sidelines as head coach, and Travis Kelce at tight end. However, when it comes to the wide receiver ranks, it’s hard for anyone to tell how things will shake out—and who will find their status climbing with the growth in production.
The truth is that even a group of average players would find themselves dripping with production with Reid and Mahomes at work trying to scheme them open at times, but that’s a slight on the talent that is there. The truth is that the Chiefs have done well to restock the wide receiver room with plenty of talent—including some high-end potential. It’s just that no one has played together or in this system enough to know how things will play out.
Will JuJu Smith-Schuster come alive with shades of 2018 now that he doesn’t have a statue for a quarterback? Will Marquez Valdes-Scantling provide more production with the wide-open opp in front of him? How will Skyy Moore fare as a first-year player with real potential for reps in a potent offense? And what about Mecole Hardman in a contract year with Tyreek finally off of the depth chart in front of him?
It will take another year for the Chiefs to find themselves back on this list, hopefully with a young, ascending player locked up for th enext stretch of Patrick Mahomes’ career.